Bob Roberts was the founder and owner of the famed Spotlight Tattoo in Los Angeles, California and was known for his intense watercolor style, detailed compositions that pull from Traditional American Tattoo flash, Tibetan Thangkas Paintings, and outlaw motorcycle imagery.
Read MoreMaud Wagner was the first widely known Female Tattooer in the United States.
Read MoreAlthough Ötzi isn’t the only mummy to be found with tattoos, he is probably one of the most consequential and oldest discoveries in tattooing’s history, suggesting the diverse use of tattooing in the Bronze Age and, therefore, predating written history.
Read MoreTattooing saw what one might call a controversial start to 2020. A “celebrity” tattooer was essentially called out for distasteful and socially insensitive photos that surfaced on the internet. These images would go on to spark debate throughout the tattoo community, especially among marginalized groups within tattooing, particularly people of color. But rather than focusing on the ignorance and negativity of the controversy and in light of black history month, I would prefer to give credit where credit is due, which leads me to the topic of this blog post.
Read MoreThe Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, most recognizable by the adornment of the Ta Moko, the intricate organic tattoo designs that embellish the Maori men and women. The type of tattooing practiced by the Maori is unlike that of any other race or culture, with their artistic designs adorned on the skin in a way that often completely covers everything up to the eyelids.
Read MoreTattooing, for a very long time, has been a very sealed, underground, essentially male-dominated subculture. And prior to the 1960s, women in tattooing were quite the anomaly. It was almost exclusively military, bikers, and carny folk that got tattooed. It was extremely taboo for women and civilians to be tattooed at all, far less to be heavily tattooed.
Read MoreBorn in 1888 in eastern Alabama in the small town of Anniston, Percy Waters is undoubtedly one of the most innovative and inventive forefathers of modern western tattooing setting precedence for many of today's standards whether it be to with machine building and manufacturing or they way in which he applied his bold and striking tattoos.
Read MoreTattooing in America, as well as tattooing as a whole, tells a rich and diverse story in that it permeates every facet of human society. From indigenous tribes of the Amazon to street gangs in South LA, tattooing is heavily ingrained in our societal DNA.
In this blog post, we will examine the life and legacy of tattoo icon Professor Phil Sparrow, a pioneer of counterculture and proponent of the nonconformist.
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